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The sun casts down onto the water that decorates the grass beneath me, a million tiny prisms littering the strands that intertwine like lovers. My feet are white, bleached by the winter of shoes and the endless torrent of rain. Gross. The bottoms of my jeans and the shoulders of my shirt are

Election campaigns are always learning opportunities for political parties. This year, it seems as though ACT is learning the lesson that it is not good practice to take on people with sections of their Wikipedia pages labelled “controversies” to run for List MP. While I wouldn’t put it past ACT voters to look beyond

I think horror has always been so strong as a genre because it reflects both the best and worst in us. There’s always been a certain pull to the battles that occur in both literary and film within this area. Never have I been an overly large consumer of horror, mostly because I’m a

You’d think I would have stumbled across it before, but for the first time in my life, I recently saw an anti-abortion sticker on the back of an old woman’s truck. ‘Abortion stops a beating heart.’ Well yeah Susan, that’s kind of the point, so it’s good to know you got the memo. Now obviously, we’re lucky enough to

Picture this. The year is 1985, and you are flying into Hong Kong’s old Kai Tak Airport. As you approach the runway, you look out of your window, and what appears is a giant megastructure that is made up of hundreds of buildings crammed together like sardines in a can. What’s even

This show is a gripping psychological survival horror series about the dangers of child neglect. It follows a young girl who suffers from frequent abandonment, often left to wander the surroundings of her town and nearby jungle alone. As a result of her parent’s frequent neglect, it appears the poor girl has

In 1826, explorer Charles Masson of the British East India Company was travelling across the Punjab. Well-versed in the classics, Masson was busy exploring the sites of Alexander the Great’s military campaigns when he stumbled across mysterious ruins near Sahiwal in what is now modern-day Pakistan. Impressed by the site’s size and large

Since his rocket to stardom with the danceable EDM-laden Easter Pink in 2025, UK Rapper Fakemink has been a staple of everyone you know’s TikTok FYP thanks to a slew of catchy hooks, a distinct pitched-up voice and constant invoking of Belgian fashion designer Ann Demeulemeester. Mink’s debut 2023 album London’s Saviour made him concrete in the “UK

It sat empty, the armchair Black, bold, scuffed Home to the ghost of a man He used to fish, He used to walk, He used to laugh, He used to be Then he didn’t It began in his feet, Tickling his toes and grabbing at his ankles, A cruel, curling pain

Welcome to the $50 Date, where a broke university student takes his girlfriend on a date with a budget of $50, and rates the activities accordingly. The rules of this exercise are simple; Whatever we do, we can only spend $50. Each, or total, I hear you asking? Yes. After the activity,

Some people have a countdown until Christmas. I’m crossing off the days on the calendar until it reaches the 7th of November: Election Day. Whether you’re anxiously watching the votes get counted, you’re actively avoiding any mention of politics, or you have no idea how to even wrap your head around the election, it’s important to understand

I have a serious question for all of you. I was watching The Babysitter (2017) last night, and there was the question of who to put in a five-member inter-galactic dream team. I want to know who you guys would choose in a team to fight a star war (hehe),

It doesn’t seem right to be claiming this space as my own. For the past two years, I have worked with Jak, and it feels weird to be succeeding him in the editor’s position. Well, I suppose all there is to do is say thank you. Thanks for being awesome,

Whilst I was under the impression that afternoon lectures started at ten past the hour, when I walked into L.G.01 at eight minutes past twelve, the class was already a few slides deep into what looked like colourful alien language. Those guys just seem to be really keen on learning their programming,
This recipe is a personal favourite, it’s super easy if you’re lazy and doesn’t suck shit like most of the other despair meals that have been in this magazine. Ingredients are pretty simple, its cheap (kinda) and you can throw it into the mix every once in a while so the people around you don’t worry about the person you have become

Aries: Having a good day? Cool! Listen to Sun Bleached Flies by Ethel Cain to make it way better. I promise. Taurus: That green Macbook neo is not calling your name. It’s actually really fucking ugly, not cute and nostalgic. You don’t need it. Gemini: You were really inspired by the Artemis mission, and honestly go off. It was pretty awesome. Just don’t suddenly think you can be an astronaut. Cancer: You’ve been

Let me paint you a picture: Once a year, a few hundred titles which have never before been released on vinyl get pressed and distributed globally. Each record gets pressed anywhere between 20,000 to a mere 750 times, globally. Said records are shipped to independent record stores without any knowledge of what they get.
If you haven’t been taught how to make nachos by a school cooking class or your mum by now, I’m disappointed. So I’m going to teach you instead. You will need: Method:

Not only do I have no business crashing a lecture for a class I’m not in, I have even less business in a sociology 101 tutorial where the tutor is completely unaware I’m not supposed to be there. But there I sat on a Tuesday afternoon in the first SOCIO101 tutorial of the semester, 2048 open on my

He is a 20-year-old third year that was looking for Miss Right that he could plan his environment around. She is a 19-year-old Nursing student looking for Mr Right now. Was it a love connection? We will let you judge. PSA: Women don’t owe men anything – but they do

Aries – Stop procrastinating, embrace your 15 deadlines and get shit done. Taurus – Happy Birthday, also calm down, invest in a journal. Gemini – They’re not looking at you; they don’t want you; stop being a pick me. Cancer – It’s time to become less insufferable. It’s time for you to shine, I feel big things and more friends coming your way. Leo – Spice

Weekly topic: online literature. THEY’RE STUDYING FANFICTION THIS WEEK. Granted it’s that shitty Harry Styles After one. I’d be interested in doing a census and see if people like this homework more or less than reading through a twenty page scholarly article. There are some people who have Wattpad open in this class but, unlike usual, they’re actually engaging with the lecture. I really like the way

Album review Bri Louise Pōneke based, Bri Louise, brings a calm gentleness to this Album; you can hear the smile in her voice and the love she has for those she sings about. With smooth jazz and R ‘n’ B notes, the Album was recorded live, with a ~20-piece support band/choir, giving it

The Beths – gig Review We’re in an old church-turned-music-venue, you can feel the lingering evangelical spirit whipping up the crowd into a holy fervour, worshiping the divine power that is The Beths. It’s hot as hell, packed to bursting with students and mid-30s day-one fans alike. My friends and I manage to push almost
Ingredients 1 cup lukewarm water 1 tablespoon of sugar 2 teaspoons active dry yeast 2 tablespoons olive oil (it wont explode if u use vegetable oil but it wont be as flavorful) 2 ½ – 3 cups standard four (for this recipe I eyeball it but its usually around 350gr) 1 teaspoon of salt Fresh rosemary Cherry tomatoes

Since pride month has finally ended, it’s appropriate to talk about what’s happening to bisexual women in queer internet spaces at the moment. Since the 1980s, there has been an observable rift between bisexual women that date men and lesbians, which has been recently revived on social media. I sat down with Sonja Ellis, a professor

A New Plymouth primary school has phased out the use of iPads for students in years one to four. Omata School was one of the first in the country to adopt the use of devices in the classroom, but Principal Karen Brisco is now not so convinced that they are

Scroll through social media for five minutes and you’ll find a new body to aspire to. One creator swears by becoming a “muscle mommy,” another insists Pilates is the secret to a lean physique, while someone else claims marathon training transformed their body and life. Alongside these fitness trends come equally viral

Sup Matt! Tell us a bit about yourself and your time at Nexus? I used to write a column called ‘Making living cheaper with Honest Matt’. It was dodgy (borderline criminal) financial advice for poor students. I won columnist of the year for 2012 and got really drunk at House. Also, that

Maiki Sherman has resigned from her role as political editor for 1News at TVNZ. That’s the headline, but it’s not the full picture. The circumstances surrounding her resignation have been only one part of an ecosystem of muddied waters that now make up the relationship between Parliament, the media, and the New Zealand

There is no hiding the association university has with stress; deadlines, class, and the pending doom of an uncertain future have always been part of student life. But for many students in Aotearoa, that experience is increasingly being replaced by exhaustion. Between rising rents, grocery prices, transport costs, and tuition

The tumultuous history of deciding who pays for university The University of Waikato opened in1964, and its students back then had a much different experience financing university than we do today. From 1962 until 1989, the government paid for tertiary tuition fees in full with the state bursary. As the story often goes, all good things

It’s not much of a secret that online gambling has seen a rise in popularity in the last few years, especially with the younger generation. The technology being offered today means you can gamble from anywhere you can find a connection, anytime you want, on whatever device you’re using. It’s convenient, accessible, and marketed as entertainment suited

Content warning: mentions of sexual violence, drug use and suicide The popularisation of looksmaxxing has opened a gaping glory hole in the manosphere – ironically by some of the most homophobic people on the internet. Looksmaxxing, a portmanteau of ‘looks’ and ‘maximising’, is the idea and practice of improving one’s physical appearance through a variety of

At some point in the early 21st century, it became clear that the cultural mood had shifted. The ironic detachment that defined late 20th-century art and thought – so central to postmodernism – no longer felt sufficient in a world shaped by climate anxiety, digital hyperconnectivity, and renewed political urgency. Yet a return to

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 film Amelie begins by describing the movements of a blue fly one day in 1973, and it only grows more whimsical from there. The film follows its namesake, 23-year-old Amelie Poulain, a shy and imaginative young waitress living in Paris. One night, Amelie finds a 40-year-old time capsule behind

Brittle Splits is a 30-something year old Waikato Arts alumni, who wears nipple pasties and fishnet tops onstage (in 9 inch boots) just for fun—and feminist expression, duh. Here, she outlines the mediascape of pole politics within Aotearoa. She recommends strippers to follow (Online only. Do. Not. Stalk.) for equal

We sent Dylan to talk to Campus Chaplin and genuinely good human Brother Andew. Or at least we planned to. We were curious as to ‘Brother A’s response to Trump reposting AI generated images and Pete Hegseth quoting fake scripture from Tarantino. Dylan wisely opted out of entering a house or worship in fear of

There was a twinkle of optimism drifting through the air just a week ago, it seems. Greens MP Francisco Hernandez put forward a Private Members’ bill that would see students receiving support during winter under the pretense that, like our country’s old, students are particularly at risk during the colder months of the year. But Fees Free is getting canned, continuing

Fees Free is gone! Winston Peters let it slip on the eighth that one of the outcomes of the upcoming budget would be the end of Fees Free, and Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed it. The policy has had a short and, to put it bluntly, awkward life. Introduced by Labour in 2018, the policy made

Four people who’ve never voted, 25 weeks and 4 days until the election, and a whole lot of issues on everyone’s mind. It’s a simple set-up, and this week’s been made a lot simpler with the buh-byeing of Fees Free. LABOUR ACT NATIONAL GREENS NZFirst Te Pāti Māori Opportunity Party Response: Lauren: Green party is definitely the one I agree with the most at the

Ah, travelling. Something so many of us want to do but can’t afford to. But regardless of whether you have booked your flights to your dream destination or are currently fantasising through your TikTok feed, buckle up. Because today I want to rant about the difference between travelling and sightseeing. By the end of this piece, you will hopefully be

The coalition government is scrapping the Broadcasting Standards Authority. You know, ‘if you think we’ve breached these standards, please feel free to make a complaint’? That BSA. What does this mean? Well, the proponents of this happening, like ACT MP Laura McClure say that it’s a “Massive win for free speech.” It means that, rather than broadcasters (which broadly includes podcasters and streamers,

Domestic flights across the country have been seeing a rapid decline due to petrol prices. Flights are being cancelled and as of late April, Air New Zealand continues to cut domestic air travels. 44 return flights have been removed from Tauranga’s schedule from June to July (including flights to Auckland,

Copy moon joy. On the 1st of April, 2026 the Artemis ii mission commenced, launching spacecraft Orion from Kennedy space centre in Florida. Significant in many ways, this was the first crewed flight to the moon in over 50 years, (the last being the Apollo 17 in 1972), as well as this being the farthest

With the election coming up we are getting (more) political. Each week we will choose a policy topic and show you how each of the major parties (and ACT) view that policy. Then our panel of four political virgins who have either never voted or voted but were never that interested, give their opinion

Better Bus Services on the cards for Cambridge You read that right, Cambridge’s population – which consists entirely of people over the age of 70 – will finally be seeing better bus services that will more efficiently shuttle them between their retirement homes and the horse races. CHRIS BISHOP REBUFFS PLEAS TO SLOW DOWN

On Monday afternoon on the 20th April, the Wellington region’s wet weather suddenly increased, leading to flooding in various areas. Suburbs such as Vogeltown, Berhampore, Island Bay, Newtown, and Kingston, suffered damage both due to the water and subsequent landslips. Overnight the city endured 77mm of rain. As many as 150 callouts were received by emergency services during the period and photos released

Over enthusiastic conductor sends $2m violin flying: Why the fuck was someone playing a violin that was worth $2m in the first place?? This seems like an entirely preventable incident. Was it made of gold or something? Video of Prince Louis on holiday released to celebrate 8th birthday: It’s good to

Rating: -1/5 After a six volume graphic novel series, one novella, and three series of a Netflix show, Heartstopper came to a close with a feature length film Heartstopper Forever. These loved characters ended their highschool chapters, and it was clear the actors were dying to do so. The actors have been linked to said teen drama

Rating: -3/5 It never ceases to amaze me how this travesty of Donna Tart’s The Secret History ever managed to become so popular. If We Were Villains tells the story of a group of Shakespearean drama students as they try to cover up the death of friend. However, the fact that the students study

Rating: 3/5 My favourite nepo-baby is back with a new album, titled Daughter from Hell. This time, she and Aaron Dessner, Gracie’s longtime producer, are picking up the piano a lot more, rather than her trademark plucky fingerstyle acoustic, popular on her album The Secret of Us. This album, though still filled lyrically with her personal

Rating: 3/5 This movie had never been anywhere close to being on my radar, but I’ve got some theatre-kid friends, so I ended up falling in love with a hundred and twenty minutes of Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams singing very badly. Well, Will sang badly. Rachel’s character was actually incredible, and he

Rating: 1/5 I went into this movie thinking they’d seriously fuck up the series, since let’s be real, how many movies can you make before it starts to go downhill? Apparently, five isn’t too many. I left the theatre with two of my best friends, all of us pretending like we hadn’t just bawled our eyes out at an

Rating: 4/5 First day back in Semester B, and there’s something new in the library! It looks so cozy and inviting, and kind of reminds me of a fishbowl. Cute! I forget everything every three seconds, and I’m insanely sensitive to changes in my environment, so I think I‘ll belong there. That’s right folks, I’m talking about the glass study boxes that

Rating: 5/5 Elle Fanning hit AppleTV+ with her boobs out shocking screens everywhere with her new TV series Margo’s Got Money Troubles and honestly, I’m impressed. This show has the most stacked cast I’ve ever seen and for the first time in a long time, I have no notes. The title character, Margo (Elle Fanning) gets her

Rating: -2/5 Released on June 5th, Malcolm Todd’s newest album Do That Again is good but not great. While his last album included a host of unique yet nostalgic, genre-blurring tracks, this one feels like the same mellow tune done 13 ways. Featuring singles “Breathe” and “I Saw Your Face”, the release follows a pattern

Rating: -3/5 With a cast that has been absolutely phenomenal performing their characters through all five seasons (Shoutout to Kiwi actors Antony Starr as Homelander and Karl Urban as Billy Butcher, two men I’d call daddy any day), The Boys began as a contender for being one of the greatest superhero TV

Rating: 3/5 Hooked by Asako Yuzuki is a perfect example of how interesting it can be to read a work initially written in a different language, for a completely different audience. The novel follows two women plagued by the ailment of loneliness. They become each other’s only female friends, but for

Rating: 4/5 Bisexuals and depressed 20-something-year-olds all found themselves at Spark Arena to join The Neighbourhood on their first show in Aotearoa. And the American alt-rock band did not disappoint. The biggest let down of the night was the crowd, they just did not catch the vibe. You always get the popular songs

Rating: -3 Anybody with a smidgen of foresight might have come to the conclusion ages ago that a group of teenage Swedes, hopped off on codeine and zombie-marching (complimentary) through the snow, almost single-handedly carving out a new direction for sound totally full of childish wonder were always going to lose

I’ll just come right out and say it. If there were no extra financial support for education, I would not be attending university right now. Many tauira don’t have the luxury of a safety net or financial stability. Many come from homes that don’t have an extra $20 to spare. Back in the dark ages, in

Tauira Māori on campus Māne (Monday) Tūrei (Tuesday) Wenerei (Wednesday) Hoki atu ki tō kāinga – Just go home Nā Elyse Rahiri Only a quarter of the way through the year and already most of us are feeling a bit pau te hau. Getting back into the swing of study can be overwhelming and even worse if you have people pleasing tendencies, don’t say

Tauira Māori on campus Tūrei (Tuesday) Wenerei (Wednesday) Taite (Thursday) Te Waiora – Rā Hākinakina | Gate 2b – 4:30 pm Reo Māori Phrases of the Week Kia ora koutou! Here are some useful everyday Reo Māori phrases to help you talk about holidays, whānau, and what you’ve been up to. COLUMN I tōku whānau tokorua ōku kuia, noho tahi ai. Arā, ko tōku kuia a toto nei, me te kuia o tōku ngākau. Ko te rongo o te aroha, kāore i rerekē. He tirohanga Māori tēnei. Ahakoa te momo aroha,

By now you’ve probably heard we’ve got a new name. We’re still WSU, but now we also carry our ingoa Māori, Te Awa Kōtui. This didn’t happen overnight. WSU has been working towards an ingoa Māori that truly reflects us and our tauira for a long time, across multiple boards. I also want to acknowledge the presidents, vice presidents, VP Māori, and life members who contributed

Kia ora, my name is Anaia Rua, and I am from Ngāi Tūhoe & Ngāti Awa. In the following piece, I reflect on the profound connection shared between Aotearoa and our relatives from Hawai’i during the “He Kura Tūroa” wānanga. He Kura Tūroa: Relatives Across the Pacific He ahurea te taiao, he taiao te ahurea. The environment is the culture, the culture is the

A question I heard recently has been sitting with me: can tikanga evolve in a modern world? It came up during a kōrero between a group of tauira, and it sparked a lot of reflection for me about what I’ve been taught and how I understand tikanga today. For many people, tikanga is

There’s a strong Māori presence on campus and plenty happening this week, from Cultural Hour to weekly wānanga and study spaces. If you want to meet other tauira, build your reo, or spend time in a Māori space between classes, there are kaupapa running across campus. Keep an eye on… Te whakahiapo – Maori law students association – @te_whakahiapo